Mayor Says City Ahead of Affordable Housing Target; Sets New Bar

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city will boost its affordable housing production to 25,000 units a year and has set a new goal of building and protecting 300,000 units by 2026.

NEW YORK CITY—Flushed with the news that the city is ahead of its ambitious affordable housing targets, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says his administration will now raise its target in the years ahead that if achieved would house the entire populous of either Boston or Seattle.

The mayor says the city is on track to build and protect 200,000 affordable housing units by 2022, two years ahead of the original schedule. With the addition of new tools, programs and funding, the city has set a new goal of securing 25,000 affordable apartments annually by 2021 and beyond—a pace it has never reached previously. In addition, the city is now hoping to build and protect 300,000 affordable apartments by 2026.